Debates over the trade-offs between specialization and diversification have long intrigued scholars and policymakers. Specialization can amplify an economy by concentrating on core strengths, while diversification reduces vulnerability by distributing investments across multiple sectors. In this paper, we use patent data and the framework of Economic Complexity to investigate how the degree of technological specialization and diversification affects economic development at different scales: metropolitan areas, regions and countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Gynecol Cancer
September 2025
Objective: Primary ovarian leiomyosarcomas are exceptionally rare, accounting for less than 0.1% of ovarian malignancies. Their treatment strategies remain poorly defined, and data on comprehensive genomic profiling are lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dilation and curettage and vacuum aspiration are frequently performed gynaecological procedures used to treat uterine pathology. This procedure carries a risk of uterine perforation, which can lead to injury of abdominal organs and, rarely, to fallopian tubes.
Objectives: To evaluate symptoms and diagnostic signs and to propose the most appropriate management for the intussusception and incarceration of fallopian tubes following uterine aspiration and curettage.
Eur Heart J Suppl
March 2025
Traditionally, structural heart interventions have been performed at heart valve centres with on-site heart surgery to maximize expertise and deal with complications requiring emergent cardiac surgery (ECS). However, at present, only transcatheter aortic-valve implantation (TAVI) must be performed at centres with on-site heart surgery according to current guidelines, while mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair, or left appendage atrial occlusion could be performed also in centres without on-site cardiac surgery. Today, ageing of the population and improved results of TAVI have increased the need for such procedures posing strong pressure to traditional heart valve centres, prolonging waiting times for TAVI and increasing access disparities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUterine tumors resembling ovarian sex-cord tumors (UTROSCTs) are among the rarest types of uterine tumors. Diagnosis of a UTROSCT is often challenging. Imaging techniques such as ultrasound and MRI are limited in distinguishing UTROSCTs as their appearance is usually suggestive of uterine leiomyoma or adenomyosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol
May 2025
Introduction: Urogenital prolapse affects up to 50% of women, and its treatment is essential for improving quality of life. Laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy is considered the gold standard, but there is no consensus on the optimal surgical approach. This study tests the hypothesis that the absence of posterior mesh fixation is non-inferior to its fixation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is a non-contact technique that analyses a sequence of images providing full field measurement of displacements and strains over time. The DIC experimental set-up requires a speckle pattern. In this work a new epoxy-based nanocomposite, containing TiO nanoparticles and coffee-derived biochar fillers, was developed to obtain an ecofriendly flame-retardant material with suitable mechanical and optical properties for its use as speckle pattern for DIC applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFumarate hydratase (FH) deficiency is a rare, yet impactful metabolic disorder caused by mutations in the FH gene, affecting the Krebs cycle, leading to the accumulation of fumarate and pseudohypoxic states. This metabolic shift promotes cell signaling alterations that can drive tumorigenesis, as heterozygous germline mutations in the FH gene, resulting in hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell carcinoma (HLRCC) syndrome. FH-deficient uterine leiomyomas show peculiar histological features that may lead to misdiagnosis STUMP (smooth muscle tumor of uncertain malignant potential) and uLMS (uterine leiomyosarcoma).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Chronic cough (CC) is underevaluated and underreported. The introduction of a tool that is easy to complete, score and interpret and with the psychometric properties requested for use in individual patients could improve clinical practice.
Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to validate the Chronic Cough Patient Perspective (CCPP) for assessing CC in daily practice.
: Endometrial cancer is currently the sixth most frequent cancer in women, and scientific research is focusing on the search for particular features of the endometrium that may explain a further predisposition to the onset of endometrial cancer, aimed at improving knowledge of the pathogenetic factors of this disease. The aim of our review is to analyze in detail the results of the literature on the endometrial microbiota in patients with endometrial cancer and to investigate its role. : We performed our research on the Pubmed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe concept of 'proximity-based cities' has gained attention as a new urban organizational model. Most prominently, the 15-minute city contends that cities can function more effectively, equitably and sustainably if essential, everyday services and key amenities are within a 15-minute walk or cycle. However, focusing solely on travel time risks overlooking disparities in service quality, as the proximity paradigm tends to emphasize the mere presence of an element in a location rather than bringing up more complex questions of identity, diversity, quality, value or relationships.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) pose particular challenges in elderly patients. When high troponin levels are detected, the distinction between non-ischemic myocardial injury (NIMI), type 1, and type 2 myocardial infarction (MI) is the necessary first step to guide further care. However, the assessment of signs of ischemia is hindered in older patients, and no simple clinical or laboratory tool proved useful in this discrimination task.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Although the management of gynecological cancers recurrences may be challenging, due to the heterogeneity of recurrent disease, the aim of this work is to present a descriptive analysis of gynecological malignancies recurrences in our institution treated by robotic approach.
Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective review and analysis of data of patients who underwent robotic surgery for recurrent gynecological malignancies at Catholic University of the Sacred Hearth, Rome, from January 2013 to January 2024.
Results: A total of 54 patients underwent successful robotic cytoreductive surgery.
Int J Gynecol Cancer
October 2024
Background: Balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) is a palliative tool for patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis (AS) at prohibitive risk for surgery or as a bridge to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). BAV is traditionally performed in hospitals with onsite cardiac surgery due to its potential complications.
Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of BAV procedures performed by trained high-volume operators in a centre without onsite surgery and to assess the effect of a minimalistic approach to reduce periprocedural complications.
Interstitial pregnancy is an unusual and potentially life-threatening form of ectopic pregnancy, accounting for approximately 1-6% of all ectopic pregnancies, with a maternal mortality rate of 2-2.5%. Implantation happens in the proximal portion of the fallopian tube as it passes through the myometrium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The influence of systemic inflammatory markers on early-stage cervical cancer (ECC) patients is contradictory. No previous study analyzed whether these markers may be suggestive of recurrence. The aim of this study was to assess whether the inflammatory markers level of patients with recurrence during surveillance was different from those of patients without recurrence representing a risk factor for recurrence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Matern Fetal Neonatal Med
December 2023
Introduction: Intraplacental choriocarcinoma is a gestational trophoblastic neoplasia located within the placenta. Due to the usual silent presentation, more than half of the cases are diagnosed incidentally. It has been demonstrated that this pathology is linked to feto-maternal hemorrhage (FMH), stillbirth, and intrauterine growth restriction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Background: The number of adnexal masses detected during pregnancy has increased due to the use of first-trimester screening and increasingly advanced maternal age. Despite their low risk of malignancy, other risks associated with these masses include torsion, rupture and labor obstruction. Correct diagnosis and management are needed to guarantee both maternal and fetal safety.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA uterine fibroid is a benign smooth muscle neoplasm of the uterus. Parasitic fibroids (PMs) are a type of myoma that do not have any direct attachment to the uterus. PMs can arise from the implantation of tissue fragments generated during the morcellation process in previous laparoscopic myomectomies or hysterectomies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChorangiocarcinoma is a very rare and misdiagnosed placental neoplasm. The unique morphologic features of the lesion distinguish it from other trophoblastic tumors and vascular abnormalities. We present a systematic review of the literature to provide clarity on chorangiocarcinoma entity and biology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report the case of a tertiary cytoreductive surgery for isolated lymph-node recurrence (ILNR) in a 54-years old Brest cancer 2 (BRCA 2) mutated patients, with a personal history of ovarian cancer previously treated elsewhere. She was admitted to our department for a suspected isolated lymph-nodal pelvic recurrence. A positron emission tomography acquisition with contrast enhanced computed tomography (PET-CT) scan revealed an increased node at the level of the right external iliac (SUV 6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver the years, the growing availability of extensive datasets about registered patents allowed researchers to get a deeper insight into the drivers of technological innovation. In this work, we investigate how patents' technological contents characterise metropolitan areas' development and how innovation is related to GDP per capita. Exploiting worldwide data from 1980 to 2014, and through network-based techniques that only use information about patents, we identify coherent distinguished groups of metropolitan areas, either clustered in the same geographical area or similar in terms of their economic features.
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